I'm pretty lukewarm about Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, for whom the nickname "Calamity Clegg" seems fairly apposite. But he's right about this, which seems to hint at a sort of regional fragmentation from which it would be difficult to recover. Particularly if those politicians who (or, more accurately, whose successors) really stand to lose continue to ignore it because it's a headache. I don't know whether William Hague's Northern Board and Harriet Harman's hard-nosed Southernness is quite enough. There's something faintly reminiscent of US presidential politics in all this. I wonder whether this division between northern and southern England have ever been quite so pronounced before, at least in terms of its effect on the future of the major parties.
Talking of US politics, this was interesting. I suspect Gordon Brown will have at least a year working with a new US president. It's nice to feel that the relationship with the Bush administration has cooled, but it will be interesting to see what develops with a new guy (or girl) in office over there. If it's McCain, will the pressure on Brown to work closely with the US outweigh any public hostility towards Blairing about with another Republican who supports continuing "operations" in Iraq?
Views and opinions from a moderate viewpoint. We believe in consensus, reason, realism, and common sense. We do not believe in dogma, hysteria, anger, or distorted perspectives. Well, we believe in them, but we don't like them.
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